After being delayed an entire week because of a sudden bout with swine flu, I was finally able to get started on winterizing our cars.
Saturday - girlfriend's 2005 Honda Civic in Taffeta White:
RainX-ed, conventional washed (I hate how white cars get that grey sludge stain), clayed (weirdly enough, not too many embedded contaminants) and did a 1 step polish.
The clear was soft enough where I was able to remove most of the light to medium-light swirls with just Menzerna PO106FA and the Uber Green Polish Pad combo. Used a 7424XP, firm pressure and slow passes.
This left a few of the deeper scratches that were begging for an orange/SIP combo but I decided to leave it at a 1 step as even that was a huge improvement over the state it used to be in (hadn't been detailed in over two years).
Topped it off with three coats of thoroughly shaken Collonite 845.
Gave about 30-45 minutes between coats.
Total time spent not including the 845 applications, 8-9hours with a lunch and dinner break in between.
Overall I'm pretty happy with the way the car turned out. 845 was easy to apply and remove. The white definitely looks glossier and deeper but hard to say if it's the 845 and not the polishing.
Protection and durability have yet to be seen as it's remained in the covered parking lot since then.
Depending on how well the girlfriend maintains it :hm, I'll consider doing a more thorough correction once the winter passes.
Tonight - my 2001 Audi A4 in Silver (henceforth to be referred to as Gretchen :2thumbs
RainX-ed, ONR, 1 coat of FK1000P (car was clayed and polished about 2-3 months ago although only the trunk lid is swirl free)
Total time: 2 hours
First time using FK1000P, was pleasantly surprised.
I had read so many horror stories about how hard(pun intended) this LSP was to apply and remove. But for me, a few twists with the foam pad and I was good to go. In fact the hardest part for me was trying to open the damn thing.
Even for removal it was much easier than I had expected. A few spots I caked on a bit much, but even those areas buffed out with just the slightest extra effort.
The areas where I managed to get a really thin layer buffed out almost effortlessly.
It was almost to the point where I was wondering if I had used enough product or let it sit long enough (applied over the entire car and then started to buff out).
But there was definitely a noticeable shine once I had buffed it all out and the metallic flakes were more noticeable than before. Don't know if I'd say it POPPED but definitely an appreciable shine and gloss.
Now trying to decide how long to wait before another coat. I have to take the car to work so I'll def have to wash it again before I go for the second coat. Wondering if going through all this again tomorrow and the day after is overkill (shooting for three coats or more) or if I should do it gradually. I'm planning on using ONR throughout the winter as long as it's not a blizzard out. Is there a minimum temp where the FK starts acting funky?
Conclusion to this long pictureless post (if anyone even makes it this far :werd:
First time using both Collonite 845 and FK1000P.
It'll be interesting to see what the results are as to which lasts longer and protects better.
Feel free to make comments or suggestions. Questions are welcome as well although I'm still quite the n00b.
Saturday - girlfriend's 2005 Honda Civic in Taffeta White:
RainX-ed, conventional washed (I hate how white cars get that grey sludge stain), clayed (weirdly enough, not too many embedded contaminants) and did a 1 step polish.
The clear was soft enough where I was able to remove most of the light to medium-light swirls with just Menzerna PO106FA and the Uber Green Polish Pad combo. Used a 7424XP, firm pressure and slow passes.
This left a few of the deeper scratches that were begging for an orange/SIP combo but I decided to leave it at a 1 step as even that was a huge improvement over the state it used to be in (hadn't been detailed in over two years).
Topped it off with three coats of thoroughly shaken Collonite 845.
Gave about 30-45 minutes between coats.
Total time spent not including the 845 applications, 8-9hours with a lunch and dinner break in between.
Overall I'm pretty happy with the way the car turned out. 845 was easy to apply and remove. The white definitely looks glossier and deeper but hard to say if it's the 845 and not the polishing.
Protection and durability have yet to be seen as it's remained in the covered parking lot since then.
Depending on how well the girlfriend maintains it :hm, I'll consider doing a more thorough correction once the winter passes.
Tonight - my 2001 Audi A4 in Silver (henceforth to be referred to as Gretchen :2thumbs
RainX-ed, ONR, 1 coat of FK1000P (car was clayed and polished about 2-3 months ago although only the trunk lid is swirl free)
Total time: 2 hours
First time using FK1000P, was pleasantly surprised.
I had read so many horror stories about how hard(pun intended) this LSP was to apply and remove. But for me, a few twists with the foam pad and I was good to go. In fact the hardest part for me was trying to open the damn thing.
Even for removal it was much easier than I had expected. A few spots I caked on a bit much, but even those areas buffed out with just the slightest extra effort.
The areas where I managed to get a really thin layer buffed out almost effortlessly.
It was almost to the point where I was wondering if I had used enough product or let it sit long enough (applied over the entire car and then started to buff out).
But there was definitely a noticeable shine once I had buffed it all out and the metallic flakes were more noticeable than before. Don't know if I'd say it POPPED but definitely an appreciable shine and gloss.
Now trying to decide how long to wait before another coat. I have to take the car to work so I'll def have to wash it again before I go for the second coat. Wondering if going through all this again tomorrow and the day after is overkill (shooting for three coats or more) or if I should do it gradually. I'm planning on using ONR throughout the winter as long as it's not a blizzard out. Is there a minimum temp where the FK starts acting funky?
Conclusion to this long pictureless post (if anyone even makes it this far :werd
:First time using both Collonite 845 and FK1000P.
It'll be interesting to see what the results are as to which lasts longer and protects better.
Feel free to make comments or suggestions. Questions are welcome as well although I'm still quite the n00b.
